Garth Head

When I tell folk I'm into family history, the first thing many people ask is "How far have you gone back?" Quite a long way is the answer, but does that tell us much about the family? Not really.

I prefer to look at our more recent ancestors, but look at them more closely. To find out how and where they lived. Using my mind's eye, I like to look at a house where they lived and see them going to work or bringing up their family.

Some houses are long gone of course but, from old maps, you can often work out where they were and what they were like.

Garth Head or Garth Head House in Hurst was a small farm where many of our ancestors and relations lived, but I could never find where it was. We visited this area of Swaledale quite a lot in recent years and whenever I bump into a local person I ask if they know of it. Nobody does. I've asked farmers, postmen, residents and dogwalkers, but no luck.

The last person I know who lived there was Mary Hillary, my half great-aunt. She lived there with her surrogate parents George Hodgson and Sarah Hillary who were actually her aunt and uncle.

A lot of buildings in Hurst have gone because it is so much quieter there than during the lead mining era. Some remain however, even if a few have changed their names. We can compare them by looking at successive census returns and by looking at old maps. The thought of the census enumerator trudging over these hills by foot or on horseback got me thinking. He would have to do the route at least twice: once to deliver the forms, and once to collect them and help fill them in if required. Not everybody could read and write in the 19th century. A thinking man would plot his route and schedule to be as efficient as possible and avoid zig-zagging across the moors and valleys. Looking at the dwellings listed before and after Garth Head in the schedules of the different census years could give us an indication of where it was.

On this map I've plotted the route taken by the census enumerator for the 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 census. You can turn off the layers for each year to make it more clear. The method isn't fool proof but it has allowed me to come up with a hypothesis as a starting point. If anyone reads this and has views either way, I'd love to hear from you.

To support this, the name Low Roan is rarely used, and where it is used, notably in 1861 together with High Roan, Garth Head is not used. This leads me to believe that Low Roan was more commonly known as Garth Head. 

Garth Head residents

Here is a list of relations who have lived or stayed at Garth Head at some time or other.